Shortwave Pirate 'The Crystal Ship' is Dead. Latest Transmission Site Closed by FCC. 'Commander Bunny' Believed To Be 'FCC Snitch' Responsible For Supplying Name & Address Info Leading to Unusual Sort of Bust

By John Poet

  Nearly twenty-nine years after its first transmission, The Crystal Ship has been forced to leave the air due to an FCC "Notice of Unlicensed Operation" which was delivered to the site of their last transmissions at Lansing, Michigan in late May 2011.  Yes, we are (more or less) busted.  There will be no more TCS programs broadcast from our own transmitters, nor the frequency of transmissions which listeners had come to expect and enjoy.  That show is now over.

 (( It is possible, however, even likely, that new programs will eventually show up in "relay land", broadcast by other operators, some time in the future.  Anyone interested in transmitting any new TCS shows in mp3 format sometime in the near future is urged to contact us privately at tcsshortwave@gmail.com ))


Feud Over Cmdr. Bunny's FRN Sock-Puppets Preceded Bust

  Because of the feuding that took place between the operator known as "Commander Bunny" and TCS' John Poet during April-May of 2011, over Poet's outing of the Bunny's use of  "sock-puppets" to control the 'Free Radio Network' website, support his opinions and attack and bully dissenters, we believe that "Commander Bunny" was responsible for making a complaint against The Crystal Ship to the Federal Communications Commission, and providing them with specific details which made for an "easy bust".
  Circumstances suggest that, along with the complaint, went real name and address information on the station operator known as John Poet.  (It is admittedly possible that he turned this information over to "Kracker" of Radio Jamba International, or one of his other henchmen, to do the actual dirty work of snitching to the F.C.C.-- so that he could maintain the more pleasant fiction to himself that "I didn't do it-- someone else did."  Kracker in particular has seemed anxious to signal his involvement by circulating a photoshop of a sinking Crystal Ship entitled "SinkingDaShip" along with other comments.  However, since 'Commander Bunny' was the only one who could possibly have supplied the pertinent information, we hold him ultimately responsible for being an FCC informant). 
   We have already established, in an earlier blog post, how "Commander Bunny" gained access to Poet's actual name and address info as a result of Poet's admittedly foolish purchase of a CB Tshirt on ebay, cross-referenced with Poet's I.P. from postings on the Free Radio Network website. He later used this information to threaten Poet, not realizing that the FCC bust had already happened.

Commander Bunny Threatens Poet with His Knowledge of Poet's Geographical Details, Proving He Lied About Access To eBay Customer List

From 'Commander Bunny' blog:

"Now, if he's following his script, he's had you checked via an online PI service.

No, I'm not bull**itting.  It's what he does...."

~via the grapevine

In an Email exchange which followed the emails already published last week, 'Commander Bunny', using the Email address "Karl Marx, fingerofdestiny@gmail.com", lets me know he knows my exact location by dropping the name of a street about three blocks away. His having this information is the direct result of my purchase of a Commander Bunny T-shirt off of ebay-- (and, of course, my use of the FRN website which gave away my I.P. address and city to match up with), all of his denials about having access to that information notwithstanding. His own statement proves it as FACT.

--------------------------------------------

from Karl Marx fingerofdestiny@gmail.com
to John Poet tcsshortwave@gmail.com

Hey LIAR POET:
Where's the proof?


You say Commander Bunny shared his mailing list with someone, you're the one always hollering about "PROOF", where is it?

PUT UP OR SHUT UP you fookin LIAR AND FCC SNITCH!


How's it feel to have your face spread all over the internet with "LIAR AND GUILTY" all over it? Not fun is it?


Enjoy, it will stay up FOREVER, SO EVERYONE CAN SEE WHAT A TWO FACED LIAR AND SNITCH YOU ARE!

Now that you are the KING of Pirate Radio, you have to have a sense of humor about all of your faults! Laugh at yourself POET, everyone else is laughing!!!! The KINGS Clothes (look it up ***hole) clothes are exposed!


Fingerofdestiny
--------------------------------
((Comment: It's the 'EMPEROR's New Clothes', MORON!
Actually very strange that you would allude to this, as the tale would seem to be MUCH more aptly applied to yourself than to me....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Emperor's_New_Clothes))
--------------------------------

FCC Snitch Commander Bunny Accuses Poet via Email in Classic Misdirection Tactic

UPDATE!!!

Now Commander says I have a "deal" with the FCC, to bust other pirates but not myself!

Gee, Commander, I didn't know one could make such deals with the FCC--
how is it, that YOU know?

Do YOU have a "deal" with the FCC?

(That would certainly explain your ability to go on the air literally every day of the week for weeks on end, like you did in April-May.... wouldn't it?  Your ratio of airtime outnumbered ours by more than ten to one...)

Knowing the circles that we both travel in, it seems far more likely that YOU would be able to broker such a deal, than that I could... (but I seriously doubt that the FCC would consider any such "deal"... unless maybe they could find someone who had TWO extensive mailing list of possible pirates....?)

"Has he thrown the NAMBLA card yet?  He likes to use that one.

The guy has worked as a mainstream political consultant and commentator

in his home state.  He knows how to run a pre-emptive smear campaign very well."

~via the grapevine

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I awoke early this morning to find this, among sundry related items, in my Email box:

From "Karl Marx, fingerofdestiny@gmail.com"
Subject: POET IS THE FCC SNITCH

"We've all wondered who was the FCC Snitch who was telling the FCC where pirate operators are located. Well it was POET. He post Commander Bunny's QTH on his blog, then claimed he didn't know it was there. So not only is he a hypocrite, revealing locations of pirate operators, he's a liar to boot.

Get the whole story at:
http://shortwavepirate.info/WBNY/?p=1421 "

((Like so many of CB's ugly rants, this post was later removed))

(*Someone* has been telling the FCC where pirates are located?
This IS news--- well, it will be, if it is true...)

===========================================================

Commander Bunny Scurries Out of Hole, Squeals Like a Stuck Pig at Radio Paranoia Revelation

From Commander Bunny via Email:


"We've been falsely accused of sharing a mailing list with Kracker.

ITS NOT TRUE.

Shame I have to even send this email, but the website "Radio Paranoia" has been spreading lies and false information about me and its time to set the record straight.

Since the website has only 6 or 8 people who infest it, I felt it better to send an email to you directly. And I've found that if I don't counter the lies, they are taken as fact and spread amongst the "do-nothings" in the hobby, who want everyone to think they "know something" when they actually don't.

For whatever reason this guy "Guise Faux" who was also "Guy Fawkes" of KBOX (who I kindly relayed) has decided his role in pirate radio is start false rumors, and spread lies about pirate operators. His website had dropped off since he no longer had me as a target, so he decided his only hope was to start up some more false rumors, by dragging me into the Kracker controversy.

I have an Ebay Seller who has sold my t-shirts. SHE HAS NOT SHARED HER MAILING LIST WITH ANYONE.

I have not SHARED MY MAILING LIST WITH ANYONE.

If Kracker found out the true identity of someone, it was Krackers own doing, NOT MINE.

I DO NOT SHARE ANY INFORMATION ABOUT ANYONE IN PIRATE RADIO, WITH ANYONE ELSE. ANYONE TELLING YOU I DO IS A FOOKIN, BOLD FACED LIAR AND FRAUD.

I don't understand why these newbies come onto the pirate scene and feel that they must make a name for themselves by telling outright, bold-faced lies about the pirate operators. I suppose they think, in their limited mental capacity, that they will be the "Big monkey on campus" if they circulate information about one of the most popular pirate operators in the history of Pirate Radio.

This low-IQ, slack-jawed, lip-drooling, ***hat, Guise Faux is a liar and is destroying pirate radio.

If he put half as much time and attention in producing shows, instead of spreading lies about pirate operators, he could be a respected member of the pirate community.

It is because of this jack*ss, that I no longer will relay anyone. Apparently relaying his station wasn't enough for this ***hole, he had to start an all out smear campaign full of lies and gossip against me.

Commander Bunny"




John Poet's emailed response:


"Frankly, I have every reason to believe it to be true.

Kracker drunkenly blurted out Fansome's personal information on the air, and stated that it came from the ebay sales. He bragged about having access to that info. You are the only one from whom he could have gotten that info (as the story later spread that Kracker's girlfriend was handling CB items turned out to be a total fabrication designed to cover your ass!)

As for "spreading lies about pirate operators," that was a hell of a smear job you did on 'Northern Relay Service'. His only 'crime' was to start a competing relay service, and making veiled accusations (via eQSLs) that you were using sockpuppets on the FRN to control it and bully people-- which turned out to be 100% true!

Your response was to make up BS about him being a NAMBLA member!

You've done more than anyone to drag North American pirate radio into the sewer-- so I'm not sure why you think you have any credibility left. If anyone has been "destroying pirate radio," it is YOU! Congratulations.

John Poet"

Guess I'll spare you the rest of the email exchange-- which "degraded from there"...

Regarding the Radio Paranoia blog-- well, he's done more to 'set the record straight' than CB will ever do-- and with humor, yet.

Update: Flawed New York anti-pirate radio bill passes state assembly, could criminalize Part 15 broadcasters

By John Poet

The anti-pirate radio station bill in the New York state assembly which would criminalize pirate radio operations under New York state law,  has passed both houses, but not without changes. First offenses have been changed from a felony to a misdemeaner, with additional offenses classed as felonies This bill specifically applies to pirates within the AM and FM broadcast bands, and ignores unlicensed broadcasters in any other spectrum including shortwave radio. It is currently unknown whether Gov. Cuomo will sign the bill.

This bill has a major flaw in regards to "unauthorized broadcasters" being criminalized. It completely fails to note any exception for 'Part 15' stations which operate at low power levels, and are legal under federal rules without "obtaining authorization" from the F.C.C. The bill treats all "unlicensed" broadcasters the same, and as written could allow criminal action to be taken against Part 15 broadcasters, who are also "unlicensed", but legal under Federal law.  Even if the current language is interpreted to allow Part 15 stations, will the average New York policeman know the difference between a Part 15 legally unlicensed station, and a pirate?  Will the average county prosecutor understand the difference, when the law makes no mention of these?  We think not.

Part 15 broadcasters should be up-in-arms about this flawed bill which could criminalize their legal activity, and contact the governor's office to urge that he veto it. You can contact their office here:
http://www.governor.ny.gov/contact/GovernorContactForm.php

This bill is a good example why state legislators shouldn't dabble in communications law. They have no experience regulating communications, they don't know a damned thing about existing federal rules, and its not within their jurisdiction to regulate them. Broadcasting is classed under "interstate commerce", and thus falls under Federal and not state jurisdiction.  The natural result is an abortion of a bill like this one just passed. The governor should veto it as flawed.

State legislatures should leave protecting big-money capitalists to the experts: the corporate radio lap-dogs at the Federal Communications Commission! We have enough capitalist-pig "free market for the other guy, but socialism for me" protectionists involved in broadcasting already. Stations which already have licenses, routinely file objections to licenses for any new stations in their own market, on the grounds that it could "cost them revenue". Obviously, they need to listen closer to the sermons of their Republican buddies about the virtues of "free market capitalism"-- because they obviously don't believe in it when it comes to themselves.

However, shortwave pirates in New York should take heart even if this amateur-hour bill is signed. They aren't mentioned and couldn't be prosecuted under this bill. And if you aren't a shortwave pirate operator in New York-- you should become one!